10 Movies Disowned By Their Screenwriters

1. J.D. Shapiro - Battlefield Earth

Not many screenwriters can say they have written one of the worst movies of all time, and even fewer would bask in that negative glow. Robin Hood: Men In Tights writer J.D. Shapiro became acquainted with Scientology because he heard it was good place to meet women. He never joined the organisation, but he was hired by producers, including John Travolta, to adapt L. Ron Hubbard's novel as a screenplay.

Shapiro departed significantly from Hubbard's 1000-plus page tome, and when he was asked to rewrite his script to be more faithful he refused and was replaced by screenwriter Corey Madell. Both Shapiro and Madell received credit for the screenplay. The former was completely unhappy with the finished movie and asked to be credited as "Sir Nick Knack," which was denied. His agent told him it would be a bad idea to remove his name entirely (in hindsight, it wasn't).

Clearly he got over it, or at least accepted his role in the disaster - Shapiro has the distinction of accepting two Razzie Awards for Battlefield Earth in person: in 2001 for Worst Screenplay and in 2010 for Worst Picture of the Decade.

To "celebrate" Battlefield Earth's ten anniversary, he even wrote an apology for the movie in the New York Post.